A summary of the most exciting recent news in online video and ad tech in the US, US-Hispanic and Latin American markets. If you're trying to keep up, consider this your one-stop shop.

US/US HISPANIC MARKET

Twitter is shutting down video-sharing service Vine "in the coming months," the company announced Thursday. Vine, which lets users share short video clips, debuted in 2013. Twitter acquired Vine in 2012 before the service had even launched. The news comes the same day Twitter announced it would lay off more than 300 workers, or 9% of the company's global workforce, within the company's sales, partnerships, and marketing teams.

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British martech company BlueVenn has formally launched operations in the US, announcing its headquarters in Boston. The company also introduced the BlueVenn Marketing Platform, that equips marketers with the tools to dive deep into customer data, extract insights and create omnichannel journeys, in real-time.

Groovy Gecko has announced the launch of a self-managed version of its award-winning Live Presentation System, which enables the delivery of video webcasts to multiple devices with optional interactive elements. It also enables live presentation webcasts, including PowerPoint slide synchronisation with optional moderated Q&A and polls, plus other interactive features.

Chinese predictive marketing software Viscoveryhas raised $10 million US to personalize advertisement on online video streaming. The platform uses artificial intelligence mixed with image recognition to determine which advertisements viewers will want to see based on the content that is being streamed at that time.

PORTADA RESEARCH: Hispanic Online Video Ad Market to Soar to US $450 million. In a new report Portada estimates that the Hispanic Online Video Ad market volume will climb to US $450 millionby 2020. Particularly high growth is to be expected by branded content videos. Among video ad-tipes, in-stream will continue to have the largest share, although out-stream will grow at a higher rate.

Outstream video specialists Teads has announced a feature that will allow advertisers to turn existing TV creatives into vertical video for smartphones, with a 360 effect, and deliver it into premium editorial environments. Preexisting landscape video creative will fit into a vertical format compatible with both Android and iOS devices.This new feature is completely free for all Teads' clients and will also be accessible for all premium publishers using Teads' ad server and SSP.

AT&T's DirecTV Now online video service will cost $35 per month including mobile streaming costs, aiming at those who reject pay-television subscriptions. It will have more than 100 channels.

On Saturday, AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc. announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which AT&T will acquire Time Warner in a stock-and-cash transaction valued at $107.50 per share. The agreement has been approved unanimously by the boards of directors of both companies. AT&T also announced that its DirecTV Now online video service will cost $35 per month, including mobile streaming costs. There are considerable regulatory hurdles for the deal to be approved by regulators.

Cable and entertainment company Comcast Corpposted higher third-quarter revenue on Wednesday, fueled by investments in video and high-speed internet and business services divisions.

LATAM MARKET

Mobile marketing company based out of Buenos Aires, Logan, has reached an agreement with Mexican investment firm Pedralbes Partners, through which the latter will invest US $2 million in the former. The investment is meant to help the company expand in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.

comScore, Inc. and IMS Internet Media Services (IMS) today released the second edition of IMS Mobile in LatAm, a joint report on trends in digital consumption and mobile apps usage in six countries in the region (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Chile) that surveyed smartphone and tablet users aged 15 or older. It found that 9 out 10 people connected to internet in Latin America have a Smartphone, and that sites within the IMS portfolio have a combined potential reach of 76% of mobile users, representing the third largest digital advertising audience in the region after Google and Facebook.

Citic Private Equity, a Chinese financial conglomerate, is in talks to buy a €2bn controlling stake in Spain’s Imagina Group, a media company that distributes the country’s top football leagueinternationally and holds domestic rights in Spain to the Formula One World Championship, major football leagues, and assets in sports rights in Latin America.

According to the Consejo Nacional de Televisión's (CNTV) first public survey about content and TV on the Internet, 84% of Chileans want regulation to limit access to inappropriate content on the Internet. 39% saying they had watched violent or inappropriate type of content at least once online and half of them accessed such content through social media. 29% found it via Google.

Gretchen Gardner @gardnergretchen

Gretchen is a communications specialist and owner of GMG Strategic Communications. She currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she works with Argentine and international ventures on shaping their content, branding and marketing strategies to position them for success in global markets. She is also a lover of all things information and has worked consistently in journalism since college, most recently as a writer at Portada and as the deputy editor of The Bubble, the first informal, English-language news portal in Buenos Aires. She hails from Washington, D.C. and has a bachelor's degree in history and Hispanic studies from Hamilton College as well as a master's in international relations from the Argentine university Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.

Gretchen is a communications specialist and owner of GMG Strategic Communications. She currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she works with Argentine and international ventures on shaping their content, branding and marketing strategies to position them for success in global markets. She is also a lover of all things information and has worked consistently in journalism since college, most recently as a writer at Portada and as the deputy editor of The Bubble, the first informal, English-language news portal in Buenos Aires. She hails from Washington, D.C. and has a bachelor's degree in history and Hispanic studies from Hamilton College as well as a master's in international relations from the Argentine university Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.

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